Hello all,
I have recently joined the forums and enjoy seeing people's posts / previous posts and daily activity which goes on this site. Just recently 1-2 months now I purchased a 55l aquanano tank. There was a deal too good to miss, and we had tropical fish in the family before, so I thought why not. Originally, we had a smaller tank and it was just the very basic, a few fish, bit of gravel, and that did us fine. Was content with that at the time and had some fun. Now, I have brought the interest back to everyone and have being doing quite a fair bit of reading and browsing.
I was going to do Marine this time and take a plunder with that, but decided it would be much better off, to ensure I am 100% confident with freshwater and any issues which may arise. Eitherway, without further a do, after a few weeks of seeing something, trying this, trying that, I am at a point now where I have something I'm almost content with.
The first picture (furthest left) shows you my tank at the start. This was the first 'design' per say. I would say with that one, it was a good starting point. P.s. I had some bogwood already (seen in the middle picture) but removed this because of the huge tannin leak. Like a n00b I put the bogwood straight into the tank and later that day found out about the lovely brown colour you get and the amount of soaking it should have had. So at this point in the first picture, the bogwood was soaking in boiling hot water to try remove all tannins. A month later is pretty much the development onto adding the bogwood. In the picture the water looks surprisingly clearer than what it did.
With this middle picture, I was fairly happy. I liked the wood think it has some great shapes, the shrimp adored it, and the plants seemed to flow. It was good, but still wasn't the affect I was after. The tannin was too strong for the water even after following multiple forum advice and since I couldn't see the fish at all throughout the day I decided to remodel. And thus was the third picture.
What’s missing?
Here I would say I am delighted but not ecstatic. I got some new bogwood with plants rooted to each one from a well established tank (rinsed thoroughly in my own fish tank water before adding). At this point I am liking the affect and looks a lot better from where I was originally. The middle one shows too much bulk and this one is simplistic. The problem is, I think it still needs something else. This is where hopefully I can receive some advice from many of you experts out there. I've had several plants which seemed to have died before after a few weeks in the tank.
At this time, I am increasing the hours I leave my light on, usually it is around 3-4 hours so I am hoping this is going to help the plants photosynthesise. I am not sure if it was a lack of Co2 but the tank is in full light throughout the day. Funnily enough, I haven't had a piece of algae yet in the tank, not sure if this is the Yamato shrimps doing there job or if that was related to light.
Most likely, I think some more plants are needed, preferably carpet plants to fill the floor space. This was the reason originally for the authentic plants but when you compare them to live plants, easy choice every time. I am not sure if I would need fertiliser if I increase the amount of plants I have in the tank? Seeing other aquascaping examples which are just sublime and then comparing to your own tank
. I understand it must have taken them years to master and make such an aquatic landscape with natural growth etc. However hopefully with practice and advice, I should be able to achieve something like this. The 'planted' affect.
A great example of a similar tank to my own done superbly:
http
/i.imgur.com/HpjGQtz.jpg
If anyone could offer any advice on this, or the best types of plants which would match my current setup, it would be most appreciated. I am not sure if you can add multiple carpet plants in a tank like mine which is full.
I realise this post is getting quite long... so just briefly, a few other things which have concerned me. My plastic piping where the air stones are attached to, sometimes get slimy. From what my friend saw, they suggested the most likely cause of this is an overload of different combinations for the water. All the chemicals combined making some sort of reaction. However, on some of the larger stones, even they have a brown stain on them which looks like ‘rot’ almost, I am not sure if that was as a result of the tannin, but don’t think so, as when I took my air stones out after around a week they were covered in this brown looking material. In fact, not only does it sit in the bottom of the tank it has being all around my glass as well at the top where my LED light is based. I did have quite a few worms on the front of my glass and found out this was due to overfeeding (they multiply like wild grass)! I am only feeding my fish flakes at the moment and gave my shrimps a slice of cucumber for the occasional treat.
The tank in itself as well seems like it is 'black' inside. It is not a green algae looking colour but simply really dark if you look at it during the day. In the pictures you don't really notice it with my LED light beaming down. Could this be a result of the tannin? I am using activated carbon at the moment to try and crystallise the water (a few other things too listed below) but not having much look. I heard polyester from pillows is good, as long as they do not have any toxins or fireproof sort of materials which could harm the fish. Any other tips any one has to clear water would be brill.
A few things which may be helpful:
What is in my tank?
Fish (to this day only two neon's have passed away so I now have 3 rather than 5 - 1 got stuck in the back of my filter
and the other I found floating):
Filters and misc. (Majority of my sponges and filters are situated in the bank of the tank where there is built in compartments)
Plants
My water changes are weekly and here is the set of my last results just a week ago:
pH: 7.6
High pH: 8
Ammonia (NH3/NH4+): 0.2
No3: 0
No2: 0.1
Any advice you could offer I would be most grateful. Apologies if this is not in the correct topic pool.
Thanks
I have recently joined the forums and enjoy seeing people's posts / previous posts and daily activity which goes on this site. Just recently 1-2 months now I purchased a 55l aquanano tank. There was a deal too good to miss, and we had tropical fish in the family before, so I thought why not. Originally, we had a smaller tank and it was just the very basic, a few fish, bit of gravel, and that did us fine. Was content with that at the time and had some fun. Now, I have brought the interest back to everyone and have being doing quite a fair bit of reading and browsing.
I was going to do Marine this time and take a plunder with that, but decided it would be much better off, to ensure I am 100% confident with freshwater and any issues which may arise. Eitherway, without further a do, after a few weeks of seeing something, trying this, trying that, I am at a point now where I have something I'm almost content with.
The first picture (furthest left) shows you my tank at the start. This was the first 'design' per say. I would say with that one, it was a good starting point. P.s. I had some bogwood already (seen in the middle picture) but removed this because of the huge tannin leak. Like a n00b I put the bogwood straight into the tank and later that day found out about the lovely brown colour you get and the amount of soaking it should have had. So at this point in the first picture, the bogwood was soaking in boiling hot water to try remove all tannins. A month later is pretty much the development onto adding the bogwood. In the picture the water looks surprisingly clearer than what it did.
With this middle picture, I was fairly happy. I liked the wood think it has some great shapes, the shrimp adored it, and the plants seemed to flow. It was good, but still wasn't the affect I was after. The tannin was too strong for the water even after following multiple forum advice and since I couldn't see the fish at all throughout the day I decided to remodel. And thus was the third picture.
What’s missing?
Here I would say I am delighted but not ecstatic. I got some new bogwood with plants rooted to each one from a well established tank (rinsed thoroughly in my own fish tank water before adding). At this point I am liking the affect and looks a lot better from where I was originally. The middle one shows too much bulk and this one is simplistic. The problem is, I think it still needs something else. This is where hopefully I can receive some advice from many of you experts out there. I've had several plants which seemed to have died before after a few weeks in the tank.
At this time, I am increasing the hours I leave my light on, usually it is around 3-4 hours so I am hoping this is going to help the plants photosynthesise. I am not sure if it was a lack of Co2 but the tank is in full light throughout the day. Funnily enough, I haven't had a piece of algae yet in the tank, not sure if this is the Yamato shrimps doing there job or if that was related to light.
Most likely, I think some more plants are needed, preferably carpet plants to fill the floor space. This was the reason originally for the authentic plants but when you compare them to live plants, easy choice every time. I am not sure if I would need fertiliser if I increase the amount of plants I have in the tank? Seeing other aquascaping examples which are just sublime and then comparing to your own tank
A great example of a similar tank to my own done superbly:
http
/i.imgur.com/HpjGQtz.jpgIf anyone could offer any advice on this, or the best types of plants which would match my current setup, it would be most appreciated. I am not sure if you can add multiple carpet plants in a tank like mine which is full.
I realise this post is getting quite long... so just briefly, a few other things which have concerned me. My plastic piping where the air stones are attached to, sometimes get slimy. From what my friend saw, they suggested the most likely cause of this is an overload of different combinations for the water. All the chemicals combined making some sort of reaction. However, on some of the larger stones, even they have a brown stain on them which looks like ‘rot’ almost, I am not sure if that was as a result of the tannin, but don’t think so, as when I took my air stones out after around a week they were covered in this brown looking material. In fact, not only does it sit in the bottom of the tank it has being all around my glass as well at the top where my LED light is based. I did have quite a few worms on the front of my glass and found out this was due to overfeeding (they multiply like wild grass)! I am only feeding my fish flakes at the moment and gave my shrimps a slice of cucumber for the occasional treat.
The tank in itself as well seems like it is 'black' inside. It is not a green algae looking colour but simply really dark if you look at it during the day. In the pictures you don't really notice it with my LED light beaming down. Could this be a result of the tannin? I am using activated carbon at the moment to try and crystallise the water (a few other things too listed below) but not having much look. I heard polyester from pillows is good, as long as they do not have any toxins or fireproof sort of materials which could harm the fish. Any other tips any one has to clear water would be brill.
A few things which may be helpful:
What is in my tank?
Fish (to this day only two neon's have passed away so I now have 3 rather than 5 - 1 got stuck in the back of my filter
- Standard Male Betta
- Silvertip Tetra (3)
- Neon Tetra (3)
- Rummy Nose (3)
- Yamato Shrimp (2)
- Snails (free courtesy of live plants )
Filters and misc. (Majority of my sponges and filters are situated in the bank of the tank where there is built in compartments)
- Aquaone maxipower head 101 (came with the tank) *Do I need a better filter than this? I haven't being able to find any recommendation
- Valve pump powering two air stones
- Carbon filter pads
- Nitrogen sponge
- Active carbon to try remove tannin from the water and clear it up
- Fluval polycarbon cartridges
- Aquaone Heater
Plants
- One of the bogwood contains Java leaves
- Not too sure what the other two breeds were now like an amateur. Forgot to take note.
My water changes are weekly and here is the set of my last results just a week ago:
pH: 7.6
High pH: 8
Ammonia (NH3/NH4+): 0.2
No3: 0
No2: 0.1
Any advice you could offer I would be most grateful. Apologies if this is not in the correct topic pool.
Thanks
